It had simply been too long since I'd been fishing, so New Year's Day seemed a good time to break the fast. Club members Tim Welsh and Greg Gomon joined me on Lone Lake in calm airs and light overcast sky. I'll let Tim and Greg tell their own stories and limit this post to my own experience.

While I have a little experience on Lone Lake, my trips there always begin by reviewing things Clarence Hein told me. I remember that the approximate weed line runs from near the point just west of the boat launch east toward the house with the willow trees in the yard, and that yellow was Clarence's color of choice for Lone Lake streamers. So, I should have been all set. The problem is that I think too much, and I don't like ruts. As a result, I started fishing with a white balanced leech trolled slowly along the weed line. And that was okay: yielding one fish to the net and another strike during the first hour. It was just enough action for me to stay with the white leach longer than I should have--another couple of hours without a strike. This is my dislike of ruts battling against my dislike of changing flies. Nothing good ever comes of it.

Eventually rational thought made an appearance. How about if I try yellow, I ask myself. Clarence nods his head. But wait! There's more! To save a little face, I wanted to make this next fly reflect something of my own thinking. I had a desire to try a slower troll without getting my fly down in the weeds. That lead me to pick a yellow booby fly, and it proved to be the straight ticket. Two fish to net and a third strike in the next half hour. Redemption! But not too much redemption because now it was time to go home, and I couldn't forget those fruitless white leach hours. If only....

Okay. That was fun. Now here's the real nitty gritty:

-- Type 6 full-sink line. (While I was a couple fish rise early in the day, I had no action on my

rod loaded with my intermediate line.)

-- Flies as shown below.

-- Slow troll using flippers.

-- Most action was just off the point west of the boat launch.

-- Fish were all about 16".